Materials for the Assyrian Dictionary (MAD)

You are here

MAD 3

Glossary of Old Akkadian

I. J. Gelb

The Glossary presents a picture of the Old Akkadian lexicographical material from the oldest times down to the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Two terms need an explanation. The term "glossary" contains words collected for the use of the Assyrian Dictionary, ordered according to form and rough semantic grouping, with translations intended solely to serve as a guide to future investigators of the meanings. The term "Akkadian" embraces probably more than the term implies since the Glossary includes a number of entries used as loanwords in Sumerian, which may have been borrowed not from Akkadian but from other Semitic languages spoken in Mesopotamia or in the neighboring areas.